#4 Real Madrids Galacticos Part 1
It was a mad time in world football where money was having a bigger effect on club football than it had ever done before and it was all being masterminded by the ultra business-conscious club president Florentino Perez.
Although the trend of finance dominating headlines, club policy and transfer activity has gathered even more traction since then, the first era of Real Madrid’s Galacticos underlined just how big a factor money could really be.
Stars like David Beckham, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo began to grace the Santiago Bernabeu at the turn of the Milennium and it initially paid off for them as they began to win titles as well as recouping huge fees in shirt sales. It was, no doubt, a weird and wonderful time to be a Madridista and the club have tried to re-create the same feeling in recent years with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale all spearheading the current era.
Ultimately, the original band of superstars failed to instigate a long-lasting period of dominance and they didn’t implement the ‘Zidanes y Pavones’ rule they wanted to, as Blair Newman put it on the Guardian: “Real Madrid promoted their youngsters, but subsequently demeaned them. They were not considered a part of the club’s core, merely filler in positions deemed less important.”
That said, die-hard fans would love to see that team play again because at their peak, they were a joy to behold.